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Supreme Court of Pakistan. — File photo

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court's bench hearing the case concerning the death of of NAB investigator Kamran Faisal granted on Friday conditional exemption to Chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Admiral (retd) Fasih Bukhari from appearing in court, DawnNews reported.

Faisal, who was investigating the Rs22 billion rental power projects scam, was found hanging from a ceiling fan in his official residence in Federal Lodges, Islamabad, on Jan 18. His death came three days after the Supreme Court ordered the arrest of Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and 15 others in connection with the scam.

A two-judge bench of the apex court, comprising Justice Jawwad S Khawaja and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain, has been hearing the case.

During today's hearing, the NAB chairman had appeared before the bench and had informed the judges that the government had set up a commission to investigate Faisal's death.

The court included the government's notification for the setting up of the commission in the case's record.

Justice Khawaja said the NAB chairman would not have to appear at the next hearing of the case, adding that he would have to show up only when summoned .

Moreover, the registrar's office has objected to the written reservations expressed by the NAB's Prosecutor General K K Agha over the  constitution of the apex court bench.

Agha has, in turn, requested the court for time to work out the objections raised by the registrar's office.

The hearing was later adjourned to Feb 11.

Last week, the Supreme Court had decided to take up the case of the mysterious death and had said it was probing the case as it wanted to ascertain the truth over the demise of the man who was investigating the high-profile scam involving the prime minister.

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